appreciation in the value of the land. The truth is, however, that Mount
Vernon, including the live stock and slaves, was really worth in 1798
nearer two hundred thousand dollars than sixty-five thousand, so that
the actual return would only be about two and a fourth per cent.

But Washington failed to include in his receipts many items, such as the
use of a fine mansion for himself and family, the use of horses and
vehicles, and the added value of slaves and live stock by
natural increase.

Besides in some other years the profits were much larger.

And lastly, in judging a man's success or failure as a farmer, allowance
must be made for the kind of land that he has to farm. The Mount Vernon
land was undoubtedly poor in quality, and it is probable that Washington
got more out of it than has ever been got out of it by any other person
either before or since. Much of it to-day must not pay taxes.

Washington died possessed of property worth about three-quarters of a
million, although he began life glad to earn a doubloon a day surveying.
The main sources of this wealth have already been indicated, but when
all allowance is made in these respects, the fact remains that he was
compelled to make a living and to keep expenses paid during the forty
years in which the fortune was accumulating, and the main source he drew
from was his farms. Not much of that living came from the Custis estate,
for, as we have seen, a large part of the money thus acquired was lost.
During his eight years as Commander-in-Chief he had his expenses--no
more. Of the eight years of his presidency much the same can be said,
for all authorities agree that he expended all of his salary in
maintaining his position and some say that he spent more. Yet at the end
of his life we find him with much more land than he had in 1760, with
valuable stocks and bonds, a house and furniture infinitely superior to
the eight-room house he first owned, two houses in the Federal City that
had cost him about $15,000, several times as many negroes, and live
stock estimated by himself at $15,653 and by his manager at upward of
twice that sum.

Such being the case--and as no one has ever ventured even to hint that
he made money corruptly out of his official position--the conclusion is
irresistible that he was a good business man and that he made farming
pay, particularly when he was at home.

It is true that only three months before his death he wrote: "The
expense at